With the recent turmoil across North Africa and the Gulf, investors are now becoming increasingly concerned that the ‘political contagion,’ as the wave of upheaval has come to be known, may flow over into Saudi Arabia as well.

A little over nine years ago, one of the biggest stories in international affairs was Thomas E. Ricks’ Page One story in the Washington Post a briefing given to a Pentagon advisory group that characterized the Saudi ruling family as enemies of the United States.

The Egyptian stock market will likely tumble another 10 percent before investors put some cash in and try to stage a rally, after which the benchmark index could regain a third of its losses, according to historical trends, Robin Griffiths, technical strategist at Cazenove Capital, told CNBC Monday.

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says he has invested $500 million in General Motors, the U.S. auto giant whose shares returned to trading last week after its bankruptcy and bailout by Washington.

Fossil fuels will continue to be a vital component of the world's energy mix for many years, and natural gas will increasingly play a more prominent role, according to global energy leaders speaking today at the World Energy Congress in Montreal.

Schmidt says job creation is the most important thing the economy needs right now, particularly in the manufacturing sector. He's very frustrated at the government's slow pace in boosting employment—effectively saying it's ridculous that so much proposed legislation has to wait until after the November elections.

A top executive of Research In Motion, the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry smartphones, said on Tuesday that his company would not give in to pressure from foreign governments to provide access to its customers’ messages.

Canada has proven oil reserves of more than 170 billion barrels—second only to Saudi Arabia. Much of that crude lies beneath the tundra of Alberta in a thick oil, sand and water mixture called bitumen, more commonly called oil sand.

Israel perhaps has more to gain than anyone else from going clean and green. Right now, Israel is almost fully dependent on fossil fuels that pollute the country. Israel still gets its oil from secondary sources, because Arab nations won't sell to Israel directly.

Saudi Arabia is trying to enlist other oil-producing countries to support a provocative idea: if wealthy countries reduce their oil consumption to combat global warming, they should pay compensation to oil producers.